Cultivating the dry forests of South America : diversity of land users and imprints on ecosystem functioning
Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
In the South American dry forest of the Dry Chaco and Chiquitania, the area under cultivation rose from
10% to 19% over the last 10 years, and little biophysical, economical, or political constrains seem to
prevent further expansion. Although typically associated to a homogeneous agribusiness system, agriculture
and its expansion in this territory involve a diverse array of land users. Here we (i) identified and
mapped the most conspicuous groups of land users based on existing scientific literature and technical
reports, and (ii) described their associated landscape pattern and (iii) vegetation functioning based on
different remote sensing tools applied to a set of 218 sample points. We recognized 14 groups of land
users of local or foreign origin, composed by individuals or corporative organizations, and dedicated
either to pasture or crop production, or its combination. These groups displayed a wide variation in the
scale of their operations as suggested by a 60-fold difference in paddock sizes. Twelve years of MODISNDVI
data showed small and non-significant differences in the magnitude of primary productivity (1.2-
fold difference) but strong contrasts in its seasonality and long-term variability, including shifts in the
rates of vegetation greening and browning (up to 4-fold differences), growing period length (193 to 278
days y 1), number of cultivation seasons per year (1e1.75), and inter-annual coefficient of variation (up
to 0.13). Agriculture under capitalized groups was characterized by very large paddocks, less stable
productivity patterns, and more divergent seasonality. Instead, all smallholders showed more stable
productivities both seasonally and inter-annually. Deforestation and cultivation in these dry regions does
not have a single imprint on landscapes configuration and primary production dynamics, but one that
shifts depending on the human and productive context under which they take place.
Description
Article in press
item.page.type
Journal Article (peer-reviewed)
item.page.format
Keywords
ARGENTINA--CHIQUITANIA, AGROINDUSTRY, AGRIBUSINESS, DEFORESTATION, ARGENTINA--CHACO, SEMIARID ZONE, LAND USE, LAND MANAGEMENT, SMALLHOLDERS, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, AGROECOLOGY, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, FARMING SYSTEMS, AGRICULTURAL POLICY, LAND CONCENTRATION
Citation
Baldi, G., Houspanossian, J., Murray, F., Rosales, A.A., Rueda, C.V., & Jobbágy, E.G. (2014). Cultivating the dry forests of South America: Diversity of land users and imprints on ecosystem functioning. Journal of Arid Environments, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.05.027